Diversity shines in San Diego

Letters to the editor for July 15, 2013: Pride and OTL; jobs and immigration; climate change; maglev; Egypt

San Diego basked
in diverse weekend

Two events, the Over The Line Tournament and the Pride Parade, spanned the sexual spectrum of diversity over the weekend. The 60th annual OTL is a heterosexual beach blast while the Pride Parade is a lesbian gay bisexual transgender festival.

Both are colorful, joyous events. OMBAC, the Old Mission Bay Athletic Club, stages the softball tournament open to men and women teams and hosts a spectacular sun-and-suds party over two weekends on Fiesta Island.

The Pride Parade happened Sunday in Hillcrest and is organized by the San Diego Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Organization.

At the OTL, you can expect to hear outrageously raunchy team names, see equally outrageous skimpy beach attire and drink a lot of beer. At the Pride Parade, you can expect to see outrageous costumes or lack of attire and a rainbow of exuberance from the LGBT community.

What a diverse weekend, San Diego!

Ray Bello

El Cajon

Only so many
jobs to go around

Regarding Monica Lucas’ letter “Welcoming those who want a better life” (July 5), how many people from the world can the United States assimilate?

Our resources are strained now. We have 9 million unemployed legal citizens and Obama gave permission for another 2 or 3 million illegal immigrants to work. Because of this, wages are low and the middle class will disappear. Not many will be able to afford to buy a home. We will have the rich and the poor and not enough jobs.

People need to improve their own country and make jobs there. People who receive an education here should be required to go back to their country and help make it a place people want to stay.

Betty Huston

Vista

Arguments not equal
in climate change

The July 12 U–T published two Letters to the Editor about global climate change.

The first, commenting on a July 5 Op-ed article by Charles Krauthammer, explained how excess heat in the atmosphere is being absorbed by the oceans, and suggested that readers Google the names of two specific leading climate scientists for further information.

The second letter titled “Global warming is not happening” cites no references or authorities but makes numerous unsupported claims, including absurdly false statements like “No empirical evidence exists that ocean pH (acidification) is occurring.” (The scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography must have gagged if they read his letter!)

Publishing both letters is presumably an attempt to be evenhanded. However, the reality of global anthropogenic global climate change is supported by 97 percent of climate scientists and by every established organization of professional scientists in the world.

Publishing one letter affirming and one letter denying global climate change is an example of inaccurate and misleading “false equivalence.”

Donald G. Yeckel

La Jolla

Maglev is the answer,
not bullet train

Your editorial, “Bay Bridge woes bode ill for bullet train” (July 8), could have easily noted how that boondoggle is headed for a train wreck.

For many reasons the High Speed Rail Authority should change to maglev (magnetic levitation) rather than trains running on rails as Japan is doing on their new project from Tokyo to Nagoya and beyond and as China has done in Shanghai from the airport to the city and soon beyond.

It is interesting to note that after the devastating Kobe earthquake in 1995 the only mode of transportation intact after was their monorail.

In addition maglev monorails are safe, smooth, fast, fairly environmentally benign being normally elevated, can climb steeper gradients than traditional rail, can turn much tighter curves than rails and often cost less than rail because they generally travel above the countryside so they barely disrupt farms, freeways and cities.

The sound levels are so low that ugly sound barriers are generally unnecessary.

We do need good, efficient ground transportation, but we do not need the bullet train.

Hugo Carver

Point Loma

Make intentions
clear in Egypt

Bravo to David Ignatius for pointing out so clearly the folly in the U.S. policy to date concerning events in Egypt (“A do-over in Egypt,” Op-ed, July 10).

We should not try to play to both sides in this search for democracy there; better to make our intent clear as have the Saudis and the UAE and double our financial aid to ensure that the next election results in an outcome favorable to the U.S.

It is not immoral to seek a positive payoff from money invested there.